Although it’s never (yet) happened to me personally, million of bags go missing each year from airports around the world. The Trakdot luggage tracker will not prevent your bag from being lost, but it will provide city-specific information on the whereabouts of your checked baggage. The small device fits into your checked bag and reports city location in real time to any mobile, Apple, Android, or SMS capable device. Another cool feature of the Trakdot smartphone app is that it will alert you as your bag approaches the baggage carousel. Just the fact that I would no longer have to stand with the rest of the cattle watching the carousel go round and round and round for 20 minutes until my bag finally comes out makes this gadget appealing to me. The price isn’t too bad either. Trakdot will be available March 2013 for $49.95 MSRP with an activation fee of $8.99 and an annual service fee of $12.99.
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Losing bags is not as bad of a problem as it used to be. I have been a frequent flyer for 20 years now, with thousands of flights and I can count on one hand the number of times my checked bag has been “lost”, and never permanently. In fact, in most of the cases, the bag beat me home.
If you travel with more than one bag or with several people don’t you have to get one for each bag? The price might start adding up then.
The problem with this idea is you are basically putting a GPS device, turned on, into a bag that is being put onto a plane. With nobody to turn the signals off.
It won’t take long before the TSA, FAA, FCC, and a few other initialed government agencies ban these devices under national security, plane safety, and cell phone inteference problems.
So your checked luggage will, most likely, be scanned for this type of device, ripped open, and the device confiscated.
Let’s see how long this idea flies.
quite a serious first world problem here. lets buy something. ahhh, that’s better now. but wait, i need an upgrade to my doohicky 1.0. perhaps a bagtag locator should also be used in case the tag falls off. lather, rinse, repeat, dig new landfill project if you can find room.
Wow now this is one of those… “Why didnt I think of this” moments.
I still hate seeing “activation fees”, but still for road warriors this could be a life and/or JOB saver.
What the heck are activation fees if not just more money…. I hate them!
This is GREAT, Forget the luggage, Put this on my wife so I can find her in the mall, or the kids, or grandma
Even in the car the daughter is driving, or grandma
Now if I can get one small enough for my sister in laws keys, their neighbors will not need to call me when they misplace the keys and can’t get in to feed the cat.
I need a dozen, ASAP
Byron
And I am going to Duct tape the one on Grandma
If you go to the website it says it is FAA and FCC complaint
Only available in Canada as of now
I need a small one for my eyeglasses that keep hiding from me!
Check this out. Be super awesome if I start traveling more. http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/01/08/trakdot-lost-your-luggage-no-you-havent/